Of all the gates to get stuck at, eternity's is the one you really want to avoid. There are only two real flaws with this film about the life of Van Gogh. First, that title. Second, it's a film about the life of Van Gogh. How many do we need? There are over twenty Van Goghs features listed on IMDB including an animated VVG in Loving Vincent, a Benedict Cumberbatch VVG, a Tim Roth VVG, A Martin Scorsese VVG for Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, a Kirk Douglas VVG and the VVG that painted the Tardis exploding for the Matt Smith Doctor prior to The Pandorica Opening.

This though might be the Van Gogh film to end all Van Gogh films, the one that can finally put the subject to bed. It's another run through the great Passion play of the art world – being ostracised/ / the time in asylums/ loyal brother Theo's (Friend) support*/ the ear cutting. The difference though is that this is an artist's film about an artist. Schnabel is painter capable of knocking up a very agreeable neo-expressionist canvas, or broken plate. His approach, though motivated by complete admiration, is not to romanticise his suffering but to explore the process of artistic creation. And in this film, it really does look like work. There are plenty of long wordless sequences where the busy handheld camerawork tries to capture the frenzy of his creativity. These scenes are rather better than the dialogue ones where Gauguin will say things like "Painted Reality is its own reality," or Van Gogh will opine that "I can make people feel what it is to be alive." Very possibly exactly the kind of things artist do say to each other, but sounds awkward coming out of the mouth of actors.

For most actors, Vincent is a bit of a stretch but Dafoe barely breaks stride. A few lines of French, a slight gingering of the beard and he's him: the awkward intensity he has on tap. It's an unsparing portrait, sympathetic but unflinching in showing why he could provoke fear and anger in people. When he approaches a local girl and forcefully demands she pose for him he seems unhinged. The great appeal for audiences of Van Gogh films is imagining that if you'd been there, things would've been different, you'd have been kind to him, you'd have recognized his talent. The great achievement of this film is showing that you'd almost certainly have been alongside the kids throwing stones at the creepy neighbourhood nutter.

*Theo might have been loyal but he can't have been much of an art dealer. What kind of dealer can't drum up interest enough to shift a single painting by an artist who has cut his own ear off?